The Duality of Homunculi
by Sixty-four K
Summary: Pride has no intention of sitting through yet another spelling test- going home from school sick is a much better plan. Now, if only he can keep Mrs. Bradley from seeing through his deception… Final story for the Moms Made Fullmetal week on Tumblr, written for the prompt "Cruel to be Kind."


Pride could tell from the moment that he walked into the classroom that there was a problem. The grim faces and the constant whispering of his classmates made that much obvious.

"What's going on?" he asked his desk partner.

Rosalie leaned over towards him, face creased in a frown. "Spelling test today," she said. "Teacher never announced it, so we haven't had any time to study the words." She groaned, resting her head on the desk. "Mama's going to kill me if I fail."

A spelling test? Pride's constant pleasant expression froze. He smiled blankly towards the chalkboard, willing himself to keep from screaming.

"Selim? Are you alright?" Rosalie waved a hand in front of his face. "Selim?"

There was no reason for him to take a spelling test. He had taken hundreds of spelling tests over these many centuries that he had lived, and to have one sprung upon him so suddenly was a cruelty that he would not stand for. "I'm just going to the washroom," he said, infusing as much cheer into his voice as he possibly could.

"You're gonna be late for class," bellowed Rosalie, but Pride had already left the classroom, striding towards the washroom. This plan had worked in the past; there was no reason why it would not do so again.

* * *

"My dear, I do wish that you had told me that you were feeling ill before you had left for school!"

Mrs. Bradley was lecturing him from the passenger's seat as the Bradley family's official car (which had only been purchased recently) wound its way towards the Fuhrer's mansion.

"I'm sorry, Mother," said Pride, lying weakly against the side window. He coughed pathetically. "I just started to feel dizzy out of nowhere, and I couldn't help myself! I'm sorry."

His mother sighed. "It's alright, Selim. Just please, let me know when you're getting sick next time. It makes things much easier for me."

Easier for her… Pride could have laughed. Her life was an extremely easy one. Servants waiting on her hand and foot, a huge house, filled with all sorts of comforts. But he didn't laugh, and only sighed weakly.

His temperature trick had worked- the school nurse had thought that he had a fever, and called the estate for him to be sent home. But his face wasn't hot anymore- he would have to put more hot cloths on it as soon as he got home.

They arrived home very shortly, and Mrs. Bradley escorted Pride up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Now, stay in bed, Selim, and call down if anything is the matter. I'll have to let your father know that you came home from school," she said, tucking him under the covers.

"Yes, mother," said Pride. It didn't matter if Wrath found out about him skipping out on school- the only reason that he went was to appear like a normal boy. And even if Wrath, with his fatherly tendencies, disapproved of him leaving, he could do nothing to 'punish' him, since Wrath was lower ranking in Father's eyes.

"Have a good rest, Selim," said Mrs. Bradley, turning out the light and closing the door.

Pride lay in bed for several minutes, thinking over the various things that he could do with this time to himself. There really was nothing for him _to_ do. He didn't need to check on Sloth until that evening, and it's not as if Father was expecting him to drop by. This time belonged entirely to him, to do with as he pleased- a welcome change from his ordinary schedule, filled by day with his inane childish acting, and crammed with jobs for Father by night.

He slipped out of bed. Mrs. Bradley had neglected to turn on his nightlight, and he switched it on. Perfect- just the right combination of light and darkness. Pride let his shadows emerge, and sighed in relief. It felt so good to be able to relax the childish facade.

Now. What should he do first?

* * *

In the end, Pride hadn't been able to think of anything better to do than sit on his window seat, eating cookies out of the cookie jar that he had stolen from downstairs (his body may have been a mere container, but it was able to taste, at least), reading books about alchemy. Perhaps it was 'childish' of him, but, honestly, this was the sort of thing that he liked doing, and something that Mrs. Bradley would never let him do.

 _Only one cookie, dearie. More than that isn't good for you._

 _I'm glad that you enjoy reading alchemy books, but you need to focus on your schoolwork before reading._

None of his 'caretakers' had ever been this militant about his health or well-being before. Pride was used to being ignored: a quiet little boy, able to slip through crowds unnoticed, going to school, and going home, ready to do whatever Father commanded. Ever since the Bradleys had 'adopted' him, it had grown increasingly difficult to do his work.

Pride rolled his eyes, stuffing another cookie in his mouth. At least, now, he had time to himself.

He almost choked when the door began to open. In a panic, he forced his shadows to retract at the last second before Mrs. Bradley entered the room.

Her smile faded as she saw Pride out of bed, with a half-empty cookie jar beside him and an open alchemy book on the floor, staring in terror towards her.

Without a word, she strode over, putting a hand on his forehead. "You're not sick at all, are you?" she asked, deadpan.

"I… I'm sorry, Mother," said Pride, at a loss of how to make himself appear innocent. "I'm feeling much better, and so I…"

"Decided to steal the cookies, I see," Mrs. Bradley continued. "I'm very disappointed in you, Selim. Stealing _and_ lying. I thought that I taught you better than that. I'm sorry Selim," she said, "but there will be consequences. I'll talk it over with your father, but I think that it's appropriate if you lose your alchemy books for a week as punishment."

Such a punishment was, really, only a trifle for Pride, really. But the fact was that Mrs. Bradley had never caught him doing anything wrong before, and this punishment stung because Pride could do nothing to resist it. He- a homunculus!- being punished like a child by an old woman.

All sorts of tempting thoughts swirled through his mind- ways to slip out of this humiliating situation.

He could kill her.

It would be quite easy. His shadows could choke just as well as they could cut. He could cover it up, make it look as though she had died from some other, more natural cause. Wrath could do nothing to him; he would be forced to go along with Pride's actions.

But, somehow, the idea of seeing Mrs. Bradley in a lifeless pile on the floor didn't seem very appealing to him.

"Selim, are you listening to me?"

Pride blinked, trying to clear away the dark scowl that coloured his face. "Of course, Mother," he said, voice as level as possible. "I'm sorry."

Mrs. Bradley sighed, sitting down on the bed. "I hope you know that I'm only doing this to help you, Selim," she said, putting a hand to her cheek. "Stealing and lying are wrong, and, someday, you could suffer greater consequences than these."

"Oh, yes, Mother. I'm so sorry." It was all a lie, but, somehow, the words came out sounding more sincere than he would have expected.

Mrs. Bradley smiled, rather sadly, Pride thought, and got up from where she sat. "Well, Selim, I have another punishment for you, effective immediately."

Another? He would let her get away with punishing him once, but more than that was definitely pushing it.

"It seems like I need to bake more cookies for my quilting club meeting tonight, and I require assistance from one little boy- and I'll let him lick the bowl if he helps without complaining."

Well… that was one punishment that he could handle without complaint. "Yes, Mother," he said, following her down the stairs. Perhaps, he thought, there were small benefits to having a mother-figure in his life, as insignificant as those benefits might be.

* * *

 _A/N: I feel like this story could have wound up a lot better… the duality of Pride's savage homunculus nature vs. his innocent Selim persona is one of my favourite things in FMAB, particularly his feelings about Mrs. Bradley. I feel like I could have explored that better, but this story is late as it is for the Moms Made Fullmetal week, so hopefully this is good enough._

 _Bonus appearance by Rosalie Hamburgang from "The Blind Alchemist" OVA, because I love her, and almost nobody writes about her!_

 _This fandom week is the first one that I've participated in, and it's been a great experience. I'm a really shy person, and I'm often reluctant to put stuff up on the internet because I'm always afraid that people will be mean about it (it's irrational, but that's just who I am), but I've gotten so many nice comments and a really positive reception for my stuff in general. Thank you to everyone who read and left kudos and comments; it means so much to me, and it's encouraged me to participate in more fandom events._

 _Be sure to browse the moms-made-fullmetal-2k17 tag on Tumblr to find more awesome stuff made for the event. Thank you so much, everyone!_


End file.
